[sooheon]

I think not challenging a notion because it may be religious in nature is the actual condescending stance. Why is asking questions about a religious experience different from asking about any other? Can they not handle an iota of push back?

[jamescostian]

While it seems we agree about religion, I disagree about questioning this person's religion. This person is talking about writing a book about their experience which they believe to be a divine intervention that changed their life and got them off of meth. Clearly, this is a very big deal to them and something that matters to them a whole lot, and they believe the story is so good that they won't even post the details of the divine intervention on HN because they want to save it for their book.

Pushing them on this topic is mean because it's such a big deal to them, and it's counterproductive because you'll never be able to prove it to them. Even if you say something like "go through some sleep deprivation and see if you hallucinate" and then they do, you won't have proven that their previous experience was a hallucination. Instead, all you'll be doing is telling them that things they hold very deeply are all stupid, and never changing their mind. There is no positive effect from this, it's all just negative.